Munson: Hellickson joins Field of Dreams discussion

Neighbors also ask to have a voice when the Ballpark Heaven project gets going.

Mar. 6, 2012

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Spring training is under way not just for baseball stars but also the proposed $38 million All-Star Ballpark Heaven youth sports complex at the 193-acre “Field of Dreams” movie site outside of Dyersville, Ia.

Chicagoans Mike and Denise Stillman were unveiled in October as the rural Iowa ball diamond and farmstead’s new owners with plans to expand it into a full-blown tournament facility. A Ballpark Heaven Senate bill has been working its way through the Iowa Legislature (with some dissent). It would provide the complex as much as $16 million in sales tax rebates.

And now Des Moines native and Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Jeremy Hellickson is on the verge of being officially unveiled as a Major League supporter.

“He’s still in spring training,” Denise said Monday morning of Hellickson. “We had very brief conversations with him.”

She characterized Hellickson, the 2011 American League Rookie of the Year, as “very excited about the project” and “eager to be a part of it.” Specifics of his investor or managerial role are yet to come.

Hellickson couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Monday.

In the Dyersville area, the Stillmans also have had to address concerns from neighbors — some of whom spoke up at a lively Dyersville City Council meeting Feb. 20. Will the rural development lead to local flooding or water drainage issues? Will traffic overwhelm the rural roads?

So Denise held a meeting over the weekend with about 20 concerned neighbors at the home of former movie site co-owner Wayne Ameskamp. She characterized the tone of the meeting as “peaceful coexistence.”

“We moved the conversation from giving (neighbors) information to them asking for having a voice at the table when we do get the project going,” she said.

I caught Ameskamp on Monday morning just as he was getting ready to pour concrete. He said that drainage and traffic remain discussion topics, but the local contractor didn’t want to comment on the meeting. He fears that the media has mischaracterized him as an all-too-convenient, ax-grinding foil against Field of Dreams development.

“I don’t want to be in the hot spot,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Dyersville City Council is waiting for the results of a study on the projected cost of running city water and sewer to the new complex. Mayor James Heavens — yes, he does have the perfect surname for a “Field of Dreams” town mayor — said that annexation of the complex would be likely if development moves forward. (He termed annexation “an 80-20 thing” as a percentage.)

The volunteer and paid managerial staff of Ballpark Heaven also continues to take shape, with the Stillmans now focusing on lining up Iowa investors (since the current Senate bill requires more than 50 percent Iowa equity in the project). The closing of the Field of Dreams real estate deal is tentatively set for this fall on the path to a 2014 opening. The movie site’s sellers, Don and Becky Lansing, will be among the consultants helping run the facility, Denise added.

Part of the Ballpark Heaven push at the State Capitol has included a Strategic Economics Group impact study. (The Des Moines-based firm’s study included assistance from none other than Wendol Jarvis, former head of the Iowa film office when “Field of Dreams” was shot in Dyersville.) The study outlines that the tourney site at full capacity could serve as many as 120 teams per week with a staff of 86 (24 of those as year-round employees).

The project should add $25 million to the region’s labor income by its eighth year and $4.2 million in state sales tax receipts and $2.2 million in local sales tax by 2017.

The heavy season for baseball and softball tourneys for boys and girls ages 8 to 14 would include tournament play from April to November.

Kyle Munson can be reached at (515) 284-8124 or kmunson@ dmreg.com. Connect with him on Facebook (Kyle Munson's Iowa) and Twitter (@KyleMunson).